Missouri has 114 counties and one independent city. St. Louis is separate from St. Louis County and is referred to as a "city not within a county."[1]
Types of local government
Local government in Missouri consists of 114 counties, 312 townships, and 955 cities and villages. In addition, there are 1837 special districts and 534 independent school districts.[2]
Further classifications:
Counties may be:
- General law: of which there are 110
- Home rule charter: of which there are 4 (Jackson, St. Charles, Jefferson, St. Louis County)
Cities and villages are classified as:
- Constitutional charter cities: A city must have a population over 5,000 to adopt a charter. 38 cities have done so.
- Special legislative charter cities and towns: of which there are 6 remaining
- Third class city (3,000-29,999 population at time of incorporation): of which there are 56
- Fourth class city (500-2,999 population at time of incorporation): of which there are approximately 550
- Village (fewer than 500 population at time of incorporation): of which there are approximately 300[3](#'s as of 2007)
Initiative process availability
The availability of initiative varies depending upon the classification, form of government, and home rule status of a city or county.
Counties
All four charter counties have initiative for charter amendments and county measures.[4][5][6][7]
Cities
- Constitutional charter cities: The Missouri Constitution Article VI Section 20 mandates that charter cities allow initiative for charter amendments and may also adopt an initiative process for ordinances. The charters of the eight most populated cities (Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Independence, Columbia, Lee's Summit, St. Joseph, and St. Charles) all permit initiative. Signature requirements and filing deadlines vary by charter.
- Third class cities:
Third class cities with a commission or a council-manager form of government have an initiative process for ordinances provided by state statutes, Missouri Revised Statutes Section 78.200 for commission and Section 78.573 for council-manager. The main difference between the two statutes is the required percentage of signatures. A Missouri court recently questioned whether Section 78.573 requires an enabling city ordinance to be available to citizens, but did not reach a definite holding on the issue.[8]
Third class cities with a Mayor-Council and Mayor-Administrator-Council form of government are not granted initiative authority by state statutes.
- Fourth class cities and villages are not granted initiative authority by state statutes.[9]
Website evaluations
- See also: Evaluation of Missouri county websites
As of 2009:
- 11 counties in Missouri put their budgets online.
- 15 counties included information on their websites about public government meetings.
- 21 included information about the county's elected officials.
- 36 included information about the county's administrative officials.
- 13 gave information about permits and zoning in the county.
- Six of the counties put information on their websites about external audits.
- Only one county provided information about its contracts with county vendors.
- None of the county websites disclosed whether the county belonged to any government sector lobbying associations.
- None of the county websites provided information on how to request public records using the Missouri Sunshine Law.
- 13 county websites provided some information about county taxes.
Counties
Footnotes
- ↑ National Association of Counties Website, "County Seats," accessed September 18, 2013
- ↑ The U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 study of local governments
- ↑ Missouri Municipal League, Forms of Government for Missouri Municipalities
- ↑ http://www.stlouisco.com, St. Louis County Charter
- ↑ www.jacksongov.org, Jackson County Charter
- ↑ www.sccmo.org, St. Charles County Charter
- ↑ www.jeffcomo.org, Jefferson County Charter
- ↑ Rexroat v. City of Poplar Bluff, Case No. 1: 11CV00224 SNLJ(E.D. Mo., Jan. 27, 2012)
- ↑ Ballotpedia: Types and #'s of local governments by state
